Clan Clover

Born from a group of ex-Lotus engineers, Clan was a small sports car concern that made the Crusader, a lightweight fiberglass car based around mechanicals from the Hillman Imp.

Now, when you’re a kit car manufacturer, your livelihood is directly connected to your fibreglass moulds; it’s your production line and intellectual property all rolled into one. 

I’m picking up the Clan story after a set of unofficial Crusader body moulds were used to kickstart Clan Cars Ltd., a short-lived concern we can thank for today’s story.

(Amazingly, these moulds were moved again to the Clan Owner’s Club so that enthusiasts are still able to make body panels for the cars, even though they’re technically the unofficial moulds…)

Based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, Clan Cars Ltd. kept pumping out subtly revised versions of the Crusader — Imp engine, disc brakes from the MGB, pop-up headlights, Ford Fiesta dashboard, better tires — until its new, improved, and hopelessly ambitious Clover was ready. 

The old? Above. The new, below.

How ambitious? As far as layout, engine, and construction are concerned, in some ways, the Clan Clover has more in common with the modern 4C sports car than many other Alfa Romeos do.

If you haven’t already guessed, "Clover" is in reference to Alfa Romeo’s famous "cloverleaf" logo and sporting success it implies. It’s like a Mazda RX-7, Nissan 300 ZX, and Alfa Romeo Spider all rolled into one.

Borrowing the 1.5-litre flat 4-cylinder engine as seen in the Alfasud, Spring, Arna, and 33, the Clover employed a mid-range version of the Alfa Romeo’s stab at a horizontally-opposed engine. 

From the factory, buyers could expect about 78 horsepower. Without a steel chassis, the car was a true fiberglass monocoque as well; weight was kept to a reasonable level, meaning this sharp-nosed sports car had meaningful performance. 

Just how meaningful is up for debate: while Clan Cars Ltd quoted the Clover’s clump at 610 kg (1344 lbs.), Motor magazine found their test car at 773 kg (1704 lbs.); it was empty of fuel and full of other fluids. Zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) was up in 8.6 seconds.

From where I’m sitting, the road car looks ill-proportioned from a distance but on closer examination has a few intriguing lines. It’s certainly not awful, except maybe for the hilarious door openings and old school pop-up sunroof. (In contrast, Clan Crusaders tend to look and perform like absolute weapons in just about any motorsport they’re thrown into.)

Just 20 road cars and six destined for racing were made…likely due to the fact that when new it sold in Britain cost hundreds of pounds more than a Toyota MR2 and thousands more than a Peugeot 205 GTI.

The steep price was on top of obvious shortcomings with both the engineering and finish of the Clover, for instance: